experience applies the touchstone to character.




CHAPTER II

GRAYDON MUIR


Madge Alden was almost seventeen, and yet she was in many respects
a child. Scenes portrayed in books had passed before her mind like
pictures, having no definite significance. Mr. Muir was to her like
some of the forces in nature--quiet, unobtrusive, omnipotent--and she
accepted him without thought. Her sister was one whom she could
love easily as a matter of course. She was an indulgent household
providence, who cared for the young girl as she did for her own little
children. If anything was amiss in Madge's wardrobe the elder sister
made it right at once; if Madge had a real or imaginary ailment, Mary
was always ready to prescribe a soothing remedy; and if there was
a cloud in the sky or the wind blew chill she said, "Madge, do be
prudent; you know how easily you take cold." Thus was provided the
hot-house atmosphere in which the tender exotic existed. It could not
be said that she had thrived or bloomed.

Graydon Muir was the one positive element with which she had come in
contact, and thus far she had always accepted him in the spirit of a
child. He had begun petting her and treating her like a sister when
she was a child. His manner toward her had grown into a habit, which
had its source in his kindly disposition. To him she was but a weak,